Last night, New York Rangers defenseman Marc Staal had a deflected puck rise up and hit him in the above the right eye. Marc Staal immediately fell to the ice, riving in pain the way hockey players DON’T react. The crowd in Madison Square Garden raised to their feet for a reason they didn’t want to. As Staal began to get up, a pool of blood was on the ice and concern for Staal’s career and life were more important than a Rangers/Flyers regular season game. The immediate concern was the location of the strike- just above the right eye- and whether or not it struck the eye itself. As Staal waits for the swelling to go down, the Blueshirt fans look to Twitter every minute hoping on good news for their All Star defenseman who was finally back to playing at that level. Of course, the national media is picking up the story and bringing up the “visor debate”, but if anyone believes this injury will change matters, look back to the year 2000 for a much worse injury.
On Monday, the New York Rangers made the biggest trade of the off-season when they acquired Rick Nash of the Columbus Blue Jackets. In return, the Rangers sent popular-but-maligned forwards Brandon Dubinsky, Artem Anisimov, promising young defenseman Tim Erixon and a first round pick. At the end of the Rangers season, www.hockeyticketsonline.net detailed what the Rangers needed to do in the offseason, but just how good is this deal?
In a last-ditch effort to stave off elimination and avoid a sweep, New Jersey Devils head coach Peter DeBoer is making two key changes to his lineup for Game 4—Peter Harrold and Jacob Josefson are out and Henrik Tallinder and Petr Sykora are in.
Wednesday’s Game 4 between the Devils and the Los Angeles Kings will be the Stanley Cup playoff debut for Tallinder, who hasn’t played since Jan. 17 because of a blood clot in his leg.
Though the steady defenseman had been practicing with the team for weeks and said he’s ready to go, he also admitted that it’s impossible to fully prepare for an elimination game in the Stanley Cup Final.
The St. Louis Blues find themselves one game away from their summer vacation.
Trailing the Los Angeles Kings 2-0 entering game four of a Western Conference semi-final, the Blues needed to win last Thursday night to get back in the series. Unfortunately, they could not pull it off. Although they started with more speed and aggression than in game two, they couldn’t stop the Kings’ offense, which has been on fire as of late. The Kings had goals by Dwight King and Drew Doughty along with a Gordie Howe hat trick (a goal, an assist, and a fight) by Mike Richards. Jonathan Quick also had a solid game in net for the Kings. However, he received a lot of help from his defense. Quick did a great job of stopping the initial shot, but he left a number of rebounds. The Kings’ defense was strong and did a great job of boxing out the Blues forwards so they couldn’t put in the rebound.
HBO’s Emmy-Award-winning 24/7 series is back on the ice.
After last season’s successful 24/7 Penguins/Capitals series, the network will now cover the fierce rivalry between the New York Rangers and the Philadelphia Flyers, culminating in their Winter Classic game on Monday, Jan. 2 at Citizens Bank Park in Philadelphia.
The first episode of 24/7 Flyers/Rangers will air Wednesday, Dec. 14.
Concussions have been a real problem in the NHL over the last few seasons, and unfortunately that trend has already showed signs of continuing in the 2011-12 season.
The St. Louis Blues, a team that was hit hard by the injury bug last year, is feeling the effects of it once again when they received word that forward Andy McDonald suffered a head injury at the end of the second period of Thursday’s 3-2 loss to the Dallas Stars.
The New York Islanders were hoping to make more of a playoff push last season. But the hope that they could qualify for the Stanley Cup Playoffs for the first time since 2007 was short lived.
Top defenseman Mark Streit and power forward Kyle Okposo both suffered serious shoulder injuries before the puck even dropped in the 2010-11 season. That spelled doom for the Isles as they eventually went on to have their fourth straight losing season.
Much to the chagrin of NHL commissioner Gary Bettman, the New York Islanders have announced that they will be hosting a party for their fans during which they will be re-airing the notorious 9-3 victory over the Pittsburgh Penguins back in February.
In case you need a refresher on what happened that night at Nassau Coliseum, the two teams in that game had 342 combined penalty minutes, including Islanders goon forward Trevor Gillies fighting once early in the game and later elbowing Pens forward Eric Tangradi into oblivion. You may also recall Isles forward Micheal Haley dropping the gloves with Pens goalie Brent Johnson only to get interrupted by Pens forward Eric Godard who came off the bench to stand up for Johnson.
